


Pirate Treasure

by Qzeebrella



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-29
Updated: 2008-11-29
Packaged: 2018-08-16 05:21:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8088799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qzeebrella/pseuds/Qzeebrella
Summary: Malcolm, a treasure map and a pirate chest.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Kylie Lee, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Warp 5 Complex](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Warp_5_Complex), the software of which ceased to be maintained and created a security hazard. To make future maintenance and archive growth easier, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but I may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Warp 5 Complex collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Warp5Complex).

  
Author's notes: dedicated to Lt Black Fire.  


* * *

When Malcolm was seven, his sister Maddy gave him a treasure map for Christmas. To him it was the most wonderful thing ever because he was determined to be a pirate when he grew up. Mostly because, as everyone knows, pirates get to play with swords and canons and make things go boom. He spent most of the morning following the clues on the map and, just before dinner, he dug up the treasure chest. It was obviously one of the boxes that his fatherâ€™s scotch came in, painted red and gold, but it was full of the most precious things. 

There was a picture of him and Maddy together on grandpaâ€™s sailing boat on top of the rest of the treasure. There was a geode that sparkled in the light tucked in one corner. An eye patch and â€œauthenticâ€ pirate ID tucked in one corner. There was one of Maddyâ€™s hair ties, a spider preserved in amber - obviously from fatherâ€™s collection, and one of his mumâ€™s sketches. There was a piece of driftwood, a crystal in the shape of a dolphin, and one of grandfatherâ€™s handkerchiefs. Best of all was the dozen gingerbread pirates, one of which had a missing leg. Malcolm thanked Maddy for the gift in the only way he knew how, by leaving all her dolls alone that day thus giving them a reprieve from walking the plank.

As the years went by, he put childhood dreams aide. He began the process of growing up and eventually gave up on the idea of becoming a pirate. Yet he held onto the treasure chest and all the precious things he had found inside. (Except for the cookies, which he had eaten on that long ago day.) He even put the map Maddy had made in with the other things. Whenever he moved he made sure to carry the box with him, not wanting to lose it. It followed him to an from boarding school. From one of his fatherâ€™s postings to another and finally, to Enterprise. 

Over the years he added other precious things to it. A picture of his extended family, one of him and father on a bug hunting expedition, and one of his mother in the dress she wore every motherâ€™s day. He put his Eagle scout badges in it, a necklace from his aunt Sherry, and a thumb sized sailing ship model his Uncle Archie gave him inside, all before getting to Enterprise. While on Enterprise he added a palm sized denim lapis lazuli that Trip gave him, its many shades of blue reminding him of Tripâ€™s eyes. 

He kept the treasure chest in his footlocker for many years, right up until the third Christmas he lived on ship. Then the Xindi came and his time with Trip, Malcolm's memories of his own sister, and all of his happier memories were all he had to help him cope with all that happened in the expanse. For a time, he feared that Trip had cast him aside, that heâ€™d face Christmas all alone. But, then, Trip showed up on advent, needing comfort. Not wanting to push him, Malcolm avoided all mention of Lizzie and, at first the visit was awkward. 

Then Malcolm pulled out his treasure chest and the memories began to escape. He told Trip of the Christmas Maddy gave it to him. He told Trip of how Maddy would wail dramatically whenever he made one of her dolls walk the plank of his pirate ship (a board balanced upon his bed or the divan or whatever was handy at the time.) Of how she would turn the tables on him and make his teddy bear Rufus walk the plank. Of how he and Maddy would raid cookâ€™s cookie jar and take her hostage. Of how they would go pillaging in the nearby woods or the playground or Mr Covlinâ€™s back yard. Of how sheâ€™d make him play dress up and join her and her dolls for tea. Of how they would try to sneak up on father and heâ€™d always catch them, pick them up in turn and twirl them around. Of how mum would smile at them and try to teach them how to draw. Of how, sometimes, father would play pirate with them. Of how grandpa would give them piggy back rides and grandfather would take them on his sailboat. A million memories of him and Maddy together. Ending with the long held, precious to him, memory of the Christmas he and Maddy were seven and she gave him a treasure map.

He then showed Trip the map and told him of how he followed the clues. Then he took out his treasures, one by one and explained why they were so precious to him. Trip hanging onto every word. He then said out loud, â€œmaybe I should put them on display.â€ 

Trip replied, â€œyeah, you should.â€ They went together to the Quarter Master and got a frame for the map and all the pictures, with numbers under each photo, numbers that correlated to the numbers on the treasure map. The picture of him and Maddy at seven given the number one, the one of him on his grandfatherâ€™s sailing boat the number two, and so on. The photos in chronological order of when he received them. The last photo one of him and Trip on some alien world they had visited together. They then hung the frame full of images on the wall in between his desk and his bed.

They then argued as to where everything else should go. The geode, the spider preserved in amber, and the lapis lazuli he set on his desk, where he could always see them. The crystal dolphin, the driftwood, and Maddyâ€™s hair tie on the bookshelf. His grandfatherâ€™s handkerchief in his pocket and so on, until all of his precious things were in reach, in his quarters, making them more like home. 

Once they were finished, they sat on his bed together, talking. Malcolm about his family and all the wonderful memories associated with them, Trip about how hard this Christmas was as it was the first without Lizzie to share it with. As they talked, they grew closer, connecting in a way they never had before. Comforting each other and learning more about each other. As they talked Malcolm knew that this was one more memory he would store in his pirate chest, one more memory he would cherish and save aside for when he needed to take it out and savour it again. For how Tripâ€™s coming over, his listening to Malcolm reminisce, and his sharing of his own memories had given Malcolm hope. 

Hope that they would make it through the darkness of the expanse together. Hope that they would always be able to share memories, both the good and the bad. Hope that they would have a future together made precious for the memories shared and created together. Hope that their love would survive the decades. Hope that this night of sharing would lead to a lifetime together. 

When he put the box away that night, on top of his footlocker instead of within it, he smiled. For all the memories of him and Maddy were tucked safely inside one corner. Memories of him and father in another, him and mother in a third. Memories of grandpa, grandfather and Uncle Archie were in the fourth corner, lumped and tangled together. His memories of Trip were scattered throughout, this latest placed on top for the joy he felt because Trip trusted him enough to confide in him. And he once again remembered the Christmas Maddy gave him the treasure map that led him to what was now a pirate chest full of love.


End file.
